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Google Drive flags text files that contain only “1” or “0” as copyright infringement. These seemingly harmless bits are automatically targeted by the storage platform’s filtering algorithms, apparently due to a violation of the Terms of Service. There is no option to challenge this arbitrary decision as if it were not radical enough.
The entire digital world is often composed of 1 and 0 binary codes. You can make beautiful things by connecting them well.
These two numbers themselves are not very impressive. However, Google Drive seems to see them as a kind of threat.
Infringing “1”
Yesterday, Dr. Emily Dolson, an assistant professor at Michigan State University who studies the dynamics of environmental evolution, said the storage platform has flagged one of her files.
Google’s use of automation is not a secret Hash recognition Scans for infringing content. However, in this case, it was just a text file containing the number “1”. The name of the file is “output04.txt” and the alarm bell does not ring.
Still, Google has determined that the file represents a copyright-related violation of the Terms of Service and has decided not to publish it.
“Um, @ googledrive, are you okay? This file literally contains one line of the number” 1 “.Dolson I have writtenLater, I added that this was “very interesting” because the file was uploaded for sharing during the algorithm class.
Initially, I assumed this was a sort of isolated problem.However, the Hacker News thread Indicated It’s really easy to duplicate. After all, almost any text file, including a single “1”, is automatically flagged as piracy if it is publicly shared.
“0” is also flagged
Intrigued by these findings, we tried to duplicate them, but within an hour, multiple single-digit text files were actually flagged. We went one step further and added a text file with only “0”. This file was also blocked due to copyright issues.
“The file” zero.txt “contains content that violates Google Drive’s piracy policy,” Google wrote in an automated email, adding that “you can’t request a review for this limit.” rice field.
In either case, the original file remained in your Drive account. However, it can no longer be shared publicly.Who does Try to access them You will be notified that it cannot be used due to a violation of the terms of use.
At this point, it’s pretty clear that something is wrong with Google Drive. Fortunately, the service itself is aware of this and responded to researchers on Twitter shortly before its release.
Google responds
“Hello, Dr. Emily Dolson, thank you for letting me know about this issue! The Drive team is very aware of this now,” said the Google Drive team. I have written, They add that they are working on it.
As is often the case with these types of problems, people who are less exposed to reach and viruses than Dolson have a hard time paying attention to mislabeled content. After all, is it a good idea to add some appeal or reporting options?
I checked the 0s and 1s I uploaded to Google Drive before publishing this article and they were all flagged.We expect this problem to be resolved in the near future, but in the meantime, people zero.txt When freeone.txt..